Green beans

I got this small handful of green beans out of the garden this Saturday, and Jenna tossed them in a pan with some olive oil and sesame seeds for us for part of a Father’s Day dinner (which also included torta rusticana and tomato-basil soup from the Soup Peddler).

The beans had a deep, robust flavor, and a slightly fuzzy texture. Smaller than store-bought green beans, but I thought more flavorful. We also cooked up some store green beans the same way at the same time, so had something to compare to immediately.

Friday I simmered a batch of tomato sauce using about 20 porter tomatoes and assorted herbs from the garden. It had a good flavor, but after blanching the tomatoes and peeling them, I should have squeezed the seeds out, too. It was a little like eating a savory version of raspberry jam and constantly crunching bitter little seeds. Blech.

Have I mentioned cooking is just as much an experiment for me as vegetable gardening? Fortunately, I have more tomatoes, basil, thyme, rosemary and oregano in the garden to do it right another time. Live and learn, live and learn.

4 Responses to "Green beans"

I used 7 larger tomatoes to make enough sauce to feed 2 adults and 5 kids. I don’t know what kind of tomatoes they were. But they are pretty easy to deseed once they’ve been blanched and peeled. It didn’t take long at all and the flavor (with onions, garlic, basil and zuchini all from Johnson’s Backyard Garden) was so much better than even the organic jar sauce. I’m hoping to get more tomatoes this week!